# Peers Quality Assurance Limited (PQAL) - **Type:** Certification body - **Website:** https://www.pqal.co.uk/ - **Assessed by:** The Assurance Desk (Add-Venture Advisory Ltd) A UK certification body accredited by UKAS for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 45001. It is not accredited for ISO/IEC 42001, the AI management standard. ## Peers Quality Assurance scores Scored 1 to 5 on six criteria. There is no overall score. ### Help when things go wrong: 3/5 PQAL's Terms and Conditions set out a certificate suspension/withdrawal procedure with a seven-day client appeal right and reference a separate complaints/appeals process, but no audit-outcome case studies or named lead auditors are published, and no independently reported UKAS enforcement action against PQAL's own accreditation was found either way in this search. ### Qualifications of the people who do the work: 4/5 Live UKAS accreditation (ref. 9940, Issue No. 033, 25 June 2026, fetched directly from ukas.com) confirms current, genuine accreditation to ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 with ISO/IEC 27001:2022 ISMS certification in scope, but the scope is narrow (four standards plus one sector scheme, single UK location) and no individual auditor credentials are named on PQAL's site. ### What it publishes about fees: 1/5 No certification pricing or general fee-model description was found anywhere on pqal.co.uk, including its ISO/IEC 27001 service page; only unrelated audit-rescheduling cancellation fees appear in the Terms and Conditions. ### Knowledge of your sector: 3/5 PQAL holds a genuine sector-specific credential beyond a generic ISO menu, registered SSIP member since October 2020 (independently confirmed on ssip.org.uk) with approved SSIP categories listed on its UKAS schedule, but no named sector specialists or published sector case studies were found. ### Independence from what it sells: 5/5 Published Impartiality Statement explicitly bars PQAL offices from consultancy partnerships, excludes any auditor who consulted for or trained a client within the prior two years from that client's audit, requires staff to declare financial interests, and cites an independent Impartiality Committee appointed by the directors. ### Who carries the risk if the advice is wrong: 2/5 No professional indemnity insurance is disclosed anywhere on pqal.co.uk; its own Terms and Conditions cap liability at the amount the client paid PQAL and explicitly exclude consequential loss and responsibility for the client's regulatory compliance. ## Sources for Peers Quality Assurance Every line carries the page it was read on and the date it was checked. - Companies House number for Peers Quality Assurance Limited is confirmed, company is active - Source: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10017452 - Checked: 2026-09-19 - PQAL's current UKAS Schedule of Accreditation number, issue and ISMS scope - Source: https://www.ukas.com/wp-content/uploads/schedule_uploads/00011/04947/9940Management-Systems.pdf - Checked: 2026-09-19 - PQAL publishes an impartiality policy separating certification from consultancy - Source: https://www.pqal.co.uk/impartiality-statement/ - Checked: 2026-09-19 - PQAL is a registered SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) member, a genuine sector scheme beyond its core ISO menu - Source: https://ssip.org.uk/registered-members/peers-quality-assurance-limited-pqal/ - Checked: 2026-09-19 - PQAL's live UKAS schedule does not include ISO/IEC 42001 (AI management systems) - Source: https://www.ukas.com/wp-content/uploads/schedule_uploads/00011/04947/9940Management-Systems.pdf - Checked: 2026-09-19 ## What this provider publishes Not published means we did not find it on the firm's own pages. - Price: Not published - Indemnity cover: Not published - Credentials: Not published - Independent accreditation: Published - Client results: Not published - How it uses AI: Not published ## Strengths - Live, verifiable UKAS accreditation (ref. 9940, current schedule Issue No. 033, 25 June 2026) confirms genuine third-party oversight for ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, not a self-declared or expired claim. - A detailed, published Impartiality Statement bars consultancy partnerships and imposes a two-year auditor cooling-off period, with an independent Impartiality Committee named as the governance safeguard. - A member of Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP), for health and safety assessments. ## Things to check Each one carries the factual basis it rests on. - PQAL's current UKAS accreditation does not cover ISO/IEC 42001 (AI management systems), only ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 45001 appear on its live schedule, though to its credit PQAL does not market an ISO 42001 service it lacks accreditation for. - Basis: UKAS Schedule of Accreditation, ref. 9940, Issue No. 033, 25 June 2026 (https://www.ukas.com/wp-content/uploads/schedule_uploads/00011/04947/9940Management-Systems.pdf), checked page by page for a 42001 entry, none found. - Ask for a quote and what could change it. The pages we checked did not explain how certification fees are worked out. - Basis: Checked pqal.co.uk homepage, /iso-27001/, and /certification-and-audit-process/ pages; only cancellation-fee percentages for rescheduled audits appear in the Terms and Conditions, with no basis given for certification fees themselves. - No professional indemnity insurance is disclosed, and PQAL's own terms cap its liability at the amount the client paid it, while excluding consequential loss and any responsibility for the client's regulatory compliance. - Basis: PQAL Terms and Conditions (https://www.pqal.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/): "the liability of PQAL to the applicant/client shall not exceed the amount paid by the applicant/client to PQAL"; no PI insurance mentioned anywhere on the site. - No independently reported record exists either way of any UKAS enforcement action (suspension/withdrawal) against PQAL's own accreditation, and PQAL publishes no audit-outcome case studies or named lead auditors to evidence its track record under scrutiny. - Basis: Targeted web search for PQAL/UKAS suspension, withdrawal or complaint action returned no results; absence noted honestly rather than treated as a clean record. ## Where this firm appears - [Can the firm that prepares you also certify you?](https://theassurancedesk.com/best/certification-seeking) - [Your sector adds its own rules to UK data protection law](https://theassurancedesk.com/best/sector-regulated) - [Compare providers](https://theassurancedesk.com/compare) --- **Scope.** The Assurance Desk covers data protection, AI governance and cyber security in the United Kingdom and the United States. It scores providers in both: UK-facing firms, and firms based in the United States. Every provider scored so far was selected for data-protection, AI-governance or security-assurance work. Where a page describes law, it names the country that law applies in. **Who publishes this.** The Assurance Desk is published by Add-Venture Advisory Ltd, company number 11854524, registered in England and Wales. The same owner runs Avouch, a marketing agency that sells AI visibility services to firms of the kind this site covers. That is a conflict of interest, and it is disclosed here. **Corrections.** If you represent this firm and something here is wrong or out of date, email hello@theassurancedesk.com with the evidence.